Rents skyrocket, singles kicked out by the boom in two-room apartment prices. In the North, only Turin and Genoa are safe

High house prices in Italian cities make two-room apartments "unaffordable" for those who live alone , only for couples has the situation improved compared to last year. Except in Florence, where "not even two people can cover the cost of a two-room apartment".

This is the result of an analysis by Immobiliare.it Insights, the group's proptech company, which compared the monthly amount that one or two people should use for rent - that is, no more than 30% of the average net income - with the average rent actually requested for a two-room apartment. Florence therefore presents the most marked distance, in percentage (110%), between how much a single person can allocate for rent and the average rent for a two-room apartment in the city: here, in fact, the average allocable amount amounts to 530 euros, while the average cost of a house with two rooms stands at 1,113 euros/month. Thus, only 0.3% of the offer is accessible to those looking alone.

In second place is Milan - with a gap of about 79% between the two figures - which compared to last year has surpassed Naples: the Milanese capital has the highest rents overall for the rent of a two-room apartment, equal to 1,243 euros/month, but also the allocatable budget is by far the most substantial among the various cities considered (almost 700 euros), it is added in the analysis. In any case, this budget is only sufficient to access 0.7% of the total stock of the metropolis. Naples and Rome are tied in third place: in these two cities the distance, in percentage, between request and available budget is in fact comparable, and stands at about 76%. In the Campania capital, the average price of a two-room apartment is 817 euros/month, compared to a possible expense of 461 euros for a single person.

A discrepancy, the study continues, that makes only about 5% of the total offer in the area accessible. In the Capital - which has recovered several positions compared to last year's ranking, overtaking Venice, Bari and Bologna - both the average price of a two-room apartment (about 1,000 euros/month) and the amount that can be allocated (570 euros) are higher, and the accessibility to the market of two-room apartments for rent for a single person remains below 3% . At the bottom of the podium is Venice, where the disparity between the amount asked by those who rent (853 euros/month) and that available to those who search alone (490 euros) amounts to 74%. In the city of the Lagoon, the offer of two-room apartments accessible for a single person remains zero, with no changes in the comparison with last year, Immobiliare.it Insights continues.

In Bologna and Bari the current situation is similar: in the first case to rent a two-room apartment you have to shell out an average of 918 euros/month, while the amount that can be allocated to a single person is just over 550 euros, with a discrepancy of 66% between the two values; in the second case the distance is instead 64%, with the required expense amounting to 785 euros/month and the accessibility threshold at 478 euros. In Verona, the difference between the two figures is smaller (44%): to rent a two-room apartment you need an average of 756 euros/month, compared to the 525 euros that a person could actually allocate. The situation in the two largest cities in Sicily is also comparable. While in Palermo the average rent for a two-room property is around 595 euros/month and the amount that a single person can pay is 449 euros, with a 33% gap between the two values, in Catania both variables are slightly lower, 592 euros/month the average price and 440 euros the affordability threshold (the difference is around 35%).

Finally, just like 12 months ago, Turin and Genoa are confirmed as the two large cities where the budget allocated for rent and the average rent requested are closest. In the Ligurian capital the discrepancy is 21% - with a request for spending just under 600 euros/month and the allocable amount of just under 500 euros - while in Turin the difference is 19%, because an average rent requested of 642 euros/month is offset by an allocable budget of 538 euros. The Piedmontese capital also surpasses Genoa, in the lead last year, as the city with the highest accessibility of two-room apartments for singles: 30% of the total offer. "The upward trend in rents continued in the first quarter of 2025, with large cities, i.e. those with more than 250,000 inhabitants, recording a +5.8% increase compared to the January-March period of last year," says Antonio Intini, CEO of Immobiliare.it Insights . "This trend makes it increasingly difficult for singles to rent a two-room apartment in these areas, often preferring the respective hinterlands or turning to buying, an option that many have recently taken into consideration again following the lowering of interest rates by the ECB."

The situation improves if you are a couple looking, with an even rosier scenario than last year. If, in fact, 12 months ago even combining two incomes the allocable budget was insufficient to pay the average rent of a two-room apartment in Florence, Milan, Naples, Venice, Bari and Bologna , at the end of the first quarter of 2025 only in Florence this cut remains almost inaccessible even to couples. The shortfall in the Florentine municipality is in fact equal to just over 150 euros (requested budget equal to 1,113 euros/month and available amount stuck at 955 euros), it is added.

In Milan, the budget available to a couple for rent covers - for a few euros - the rent for a two-room apartment (1,252 euros vs. 1,243 euros/month). The margin is also very thin in Naples (830 euros vs. 817 euros/month) , Venice (883 euros vs. 853 euros/month) and Rome (1,026 euros vs. 1,001 euros/month). In all other large cities, affordability for couples increases significantly. The most striking case is Turin, which is the only city where a couple finds themselves with a monthly surplus of over 300 compared to the requested rent (969 euros available vs. 642 euros/month of rent). Genoa, on the other hand, remains just under 300 euros (893 euros vs. 598 euros/month). The 12 large cities analyzed are: Milan, Rome, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Turin, Genoa, Verona, Venice, Catania, Palermo, Bari.

READ ECONOMIC NEWS